The present invention relates to the field of portal browsing, and more particularly to improving the quality of the user experience while navigating various websites by using the time that the user is viewing one page, to predict and fetch a following or next web page or additional browsing pages.
A very popular method for propagating data communication between computers all over the world is through the Internet. The Internet is a hierarchy of many computer networks, all of which are interconnected by various types of server computers. Some of the servers may include websites that are comprised of databases with a plurality of web pages. The web pages may be retrieved by various users or devices using a variety of techniques, such as web browsers, FTP based applications, etc. A term in the art for users employing the use of a web browser is “surfers” who surf the Internet by accessing various web pages. Many current web pages are defined by markup languages (ML) files. A markup language file is a set of commands that define the manner in which the graphics and text for a website are displayed or rendered on a display device. Common markup languages include, but are not limited to, HTML, XML, WML, HDML, etc. HTML is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language, XML is an acronym for Extensible Markup Language, WML is an acronym for Wireless Markup Language and HDML is an acronym for Handheld Device Markup Language. It should be noted that the terms “HTML”, “XML” and “WML” may be used interchangeably herein. Henceforth, the description of different embodiments of the present invention may use the term ‘HTML’ as a representative term for any markup language or hybrid thereof.
A markup language file defines the graphical layout and the look of the web page. A common HTML file may comprise information that is relevant to the web page, information such, as but not limited to, a style sheet, text, images, tags, Java Scripts, links to a style sheet, links to Java Scripts, links to additional objects, links to other web pages, etc.
Typically, although not always, an HTML or WML file includes only basic text and links to style sheets, Java scripts, images, and other objects rather than containing the actual style sheet or the various objects. Within the markup language file, there are typically two types of links that can be found: (1) browser activated or rendering links and (2) user or surfer activated links. The browser activated links or tags are automatically invoked or traversed by the browser application while the page is being read and parsed. For example, links or tags to Java scripts, a style sheet, and images can be browser links. The markup language file may also contain user activated links. These user activated links are displayed on a rendered web page and can be selected by the surfer. These links can include links to other pages, graphic displays, help boxes, etc, and are also referred to as surfer links and hyper links.
While surfing the World Wide Web (WWW) a surfer (client), who uses a computer equipped with a browser application, may send an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request to a web server. In response, the web server may send an HTML file that defines the requested web page. In the disclosure of the different embodiments of the present invention the term computer represents any type of data communication device including but not limited to a laptop computer, a PDA, a cellular unit, a notebook computer, a personal computer, etc.
When a user or system accesses a website or a web page, the delivery of an HTML file is initiated. Upon receiving the HTML file or page, the browser or other application begins parsing the HTML file. It is not immediately displayed to the user because it must first be converted into the appropriate display format—this is referred to as rendering. As the browser or application parses the HTML file, portions of the web page can be displayed while the remainder of the HTML file is examined. When a browser link is found in the HTML file, the browser may operate to stop or suspend the parsing of the HTML file, establish a new connection according to the browser link, wait to get the object or data associated with the browser link, parse the object and/or data, render any display information associated with the browser link, and finally, resume parsing of the HTML file. In parallel the page may be available to the user while the objects are being downloaded, and the objects are filled in or rendered onto the displayed web page as they arrive. Usually, while navigating an HTML page, a user may select a user activated link or hyper link for a next page or object. Once this occurs, the same process of receiving the HTML file, parsing, etc. commences. All rendering, parsing or displaying activity for the current page is ceased, and the HTML file for the new page or object is received and the process starts all over from the beginning. As a result, for slower connections and highly complex and intricate web pages, the user can experience significant delays in receiving rendered and displayed web pages. Therefore, surfing or browsing can be quite frustrating especially for a users of slow speed connections, such as users of a cellular network.
Thus, it is evident that current technologies of browsing are still insufficient and there is a need in the art for new optimizing methods that will accelerate fetching of web pages and improving the user experience.
Furthermore, because of the huge number of users that surf the Internet, there is a need for any new methods that accelerate fetching of web pages to operate without necessitating the modification of the user's equipment. A method having a clientless solution is recommended. Such a method may operate within the standard to be independent on the user's equipment/software.